I spent last a nice weekend afternoon getting to know Eli Sairs who is a former DC comic and the producer of the upcoming 3 Chords Comedy Show that’s happening at the Velvet Lounge on June 3. We had a fun chat over at the Tastee Diner in Silver Spring. I got to say that that diner has what I call “Good Joo-Joo.” I trust a place has good food if they still have the same furniture from twenty years ago. It says to me, “Hey, I don’t have to change, because I’m fine the way I am.” An example of “Bad Joo Joo” is this other place I went to the day before that had over priced Mexican food. The furniture was modern and the place looked fancy; however, the food was not given as much care as the decorating. My stomach was killing me during our conversation. Anyway, I’m going to shut up now and let’s learn about Eli.
Eli, 25, grew up in Alabama and went to college at Ohio University where he got his first taste of comedy by being part of a sketch and stand up group. He had no idea what stand up comedy was all about until college, because “There was no stand up in Alabama. When I realized that it was possible to make a living being a smart ass I was like ‘Yeah, I’m on board.'” A friend from the sketch group who had moved to DC later told Eli that it is a good city to do comedy and invited him to crash at his place. He moved over to the Petworth area and dove into the comedy scene. “I did this thing where I made a pact with myself to do comedy seven days a week for a year straight. That kind of killed me, but was almost definitely worth it.” All his hard work got him invited to be part of The Bentzen Ball Comedy Festival and he got a gig opening for Maria Bamford at The Arlington Drafthouse. “Those were the big things for me so far and that’s small in the big scheme of things but for just few years in it makes it totally worth it.”
Eli started his own comedy showcase called 3 Chord Comedy Show before he made the big move to the Big Apple. He produced ten shows up until October of last year and then he unexpectedly made the move to New York City. It happened so fast that he never got to have a formal final show and will be returning this week to showcase comics like him that got their start in the DMV, but have moved on to other places to become career comics. June 3 is the date to mark on your calendar and the final show only costs $3.
The poster says $2, but your post says $3. FYI.
You are correct. It is $2.
Why is it that almost all of these “Comedy in DC” posts are about comics who don’t live in DC? There are plenty of comics living in this city.
Feel free to send me thier websites or contact info at patrick.palafox@welovedc.com.
This comic seems to be featured because the DC area was where his talent was fostered. He seems to have BECOME a comic in DC and in doing so, brought ‘comedy in DC’. Why so bitter?